By political reporter Nabil Al Nashar
Posted Wed 8 Mar 2023 at 6:36am
Multicultural Australians have hit out at the federal government after it launched a review into policies affecting their lives without notifying them.
Key points:
- Multicultural organisations say they heard about the review through word of mouth
- No information has been distributed in languages other than English
- The Department of Home Affairs says there will be another call for submissions after the terms of reference are finalised
Their concerns are so grave that some community groups have launched their own consultation to feed into authorities’, just weeks out from a deadline closing.
The 2021 census showed more than half of Australians were either born overseas or at least had one parent born overseas, making Australia a majority-migrant nation.
The federal government cited that statistic when it announced a “multicultural framework review” on February 23.
According to the Department of Home Affairs, the review aims to ensure policies “advance a multicultural Australia”, support “cohesive and inclusive multicultural society”, and are “fit for purpose in harnessing the talents of all Australians”.
Members of the public were invited to make submissions on the review’s draft terms of reference, to define the scope of the review, how it should work and the kinds of issues it should consider, before March 19.
One of the proposed functions of the review is to consider the effectiveness of existing federal frameworks and policies impacting multicultural communities. Read more…